maverick4

Multitude of forces corrupt draft scouting process - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

[Like Mueller, I find it hard to fathom that media hype or scrutiny would have any impact on what player a team chooses, with so much at stake competitively and financially. But some of those on the inside swear it’s so. “You wouldn’t believe how much the media’s involved in this stuff,” the scouting director says. “You know how many times in draft rooms the top personnel guy or head coach will say something like, ‘Well, so-and-so is supposed to be the top-rated guy’? They’ll say, ‘How can we take this other guy? We’ll get crushed in the media.’ People are giving grades the day after the draft, and the best way to get an ‘A’ is to go with the guys who the experts are projecting as the top picks.”]

tuckeverlasting

man, am i glad the pats don't do that. i couldn't care less what grade john clayton gives us the day after.

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john clayton is super chicken and doug gottlieb is a thief .

Seneschal2

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Here's the Pats way:

Belichick tells his scouts, "Find me the football players." He then tells his coaches, "From those football players, find me the ones who can play in our system."

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"What we want to try to do is maximize each spot on the roster; we want to be stronger at No. 1 than the opponent, stronger at No. 25 than they are, and stronger at No. 53 than they are, we're always looking to upgrade the talent level on the team, and play together to be functional."
- Bill Belichick -

Deus Irae

I do. It's all about John Clayton. Everything else pales by comparison.

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"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

MetalBleachers

What's pale compared to John Clayton? The sun?

stinkypete

I'm sure the media has a great deal of influence over teams with limited scouting departments. I remember reading a few years back that the Bungles took so many character question guys because they had so few scouts that they didn't know where to find the other talent.

DaBruinz

Scouting Departments is one of the areas that many teams skimp on. They use the scouting services instead and then rely on the coaches to weed out the players during the informal and formal interviews.

Now, it may have changed, but just a couple years ago, there was only 5 or 6 teams that had full time scouting departments. The Pats being one of them.

maverick4

It is scary that Mel Kiper might have way more influence over NFL GM's than others realize.

billdog3484

yah i definitely agree. kiper does a good job, but hes wrong way too often

MetalBleachers

Too many GMs play the PR game when it comes to choosing personnel. The Pats wouldn't have their DEs (have to believe they would have taken Wilfork regardless) nor Logan Mankins had BB listened to the "experts."

How the heck does someone get that gig, btw?